AGP Graphics upgrade - Advice please

[Oranda]

Currently have a Nvidia 6600GT AGP running on Windows XP with a 3Ghz Intel P4 and 1GB of RAM.

Whole rig is struggling a bit now with some of the newer games. I would also like to upgrade to Windows Vista. Going to get myself another 2GB of RAM but not sure which AGP card to get.

Considering the Asus ATI Radeon HD 3650 but should I spend a bit more and get Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro?

Will I notice much difference with either of these over my 6600GT?

Finally, I have an Enermax 350W PSU so thinking of upgrading the PSU as well. Would a Corsair VX 450W ATX be man enough for either of the ATI cards or should I be looking at a Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[sarge78]

Hi Oranda,
Dont waste your money, even on the memory.. the P4 etc will be a huge bottleneck! (Been there, done that!)
You can get a completly new system for very little money these days.. which could include a 8800gt or 4850
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YAMAHA TG77 SPECIFICATIONS

 

[Oranda]

Hi Oranda,
Dont waste your money, even on the memory.. the P4 etc will be a huge bottleneck! (Been there, done that!)
You can get a completly new system for very little money these days.. which could include a 8800gt or 4850

Thank you for the reply sarge78. I guess that would mean replacing everything apart from my Coolermaster case and drives. Could I get everything I need for around £250 which is the top end of my budget.

 

[krooton]

Thank you for the reply sarge78. I guess that would mean replacing everything apart from my Coolermaster case and drives. Could I get everything I need for around £250 which is the top end of my budget.

Remove drive and case, and replace 3450 with 4850.

Win!

 

[Helios1234]

I upgraded to a 3850 myself and while the gains are there, my 3000+ limits me severely. The only reason I went for it is due to me finding an incredible deal on ocuk bgrade and because I wanted a proper upgrade once Nehalem comes out. The best thing to do would be to do as Krooton suggested.

 

[sarge78]

What Krooton said

?250 gets you loads of power these days. (extra left for better cooler etc) and your 350w psu should be enough to power that!

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TOYOTA CURREN SPECIFICATIONS

 

[jeggsy]

To me it depends on what you want to spend and how long you want the system to last before a whole new system upgrade.

As it's an AGP based system, then to me it's not worth spending a whole lot on it now. Might be worth seeing what 2nd-hand memory/vga cards you could get.

An ideal upgrade that would be quite cheap would be another 1Gb RAM and something like a Geforce 7600GT AGP. Shouldn't need to change your PSU with that card but give a bit extra performance without breaking the bank.

The ATI cards you mentioned would be quicker that the 7600GT but to me it's wasted money and then you wou would need a new PSU. As shown above, that money is halfway towards a new motherboard, CPU etc.

Wouldn't bother with Vista on your old system. I would imagine that would run slower than a slow thing.

My current system is a 5 year old Athlon XP 3000, 2Gb RAM, Geforce 7600GT AGP. I'm not going to do any more to it but hopefully get a new system within the next few months.

 

[Oranda]

Thank you all for the replies and the suggestions from Krooton and Sarge 78 on new components. Have some more thinking to do now.

Still a bit concerned that my 350W Enermax won't hack it with these new processors and graphics cards, or does the newer stuff draw less power. Its very noisy as well so was looking forward to a quieter replacement.

As the DDR2 memory seems a lot cheaper than my present DDR stuff, should I be getting 4GB rather than 2GB, or am I better spending the money elsewhere?

Thanks again for all your replies.

 

[JTrickle]

Wow. Same GFX card, psu and predicament I had 2 months ago.

I picked up a free 939 pcie mobo, so swapped my 939AMDx2 over to that along with memory. My 7 year old Enermax 350w lasted 2 weeks powering my cpu (110W tdp) and new 4850 gfx card (110w also). Went with a loud bang and a flash.

A 3850 doesnt draw as much power, and maybe your curent cpu doesnt, but an old psu wont provide its theoretical max for long - well, at least mine didnt.

I'd be dubious about shelling out for new DDR memory as its more expensive than DDR2. 2nd hand prices are so stupidly high, you dont save that much. Same goes for AGP gfx cards. You will be paying more than the PCIe equivalent. Auction site prices are again way too much.

If you consider the price of a new cerleron 775 cpu and cheep as <£50 mobo (I'm not saying you shouldnt go for more expensive stuff), then its not going to actually cost you much more to make the leap to socket 775 - about £50 extra.

Edit: Just seen your second post. With a £250 budget you should ignore AGP and DDR format.

 

[krooton]

Thank you all for the replies and the suggestions from Krooton and Sarge 78 on new components. Have some more thinking to do now.

Still a bit concerned that my 350W Enermax won't hack it with these new processors and graphics cards, or does the newer stuff draw less power. Its very noisy as well so was looking forward to a quieter replacement.

As the DDR2 memory seems a lot cheaper than my present DDR stuff, should I be getting 4GB rather than 2GB, or am I better spending the money elsewhere?

Thanks again for all your replies.

The estimated power requirement is 310w, so you would be stressing that a bit too much. Get yourself a 400w Silver Power psu, they are both cheap and great quality, best budget psu's I've ever come across

 

[MoRT489]

As the DDR2 memory seems a lot cheaper than my present DDR stuff, should I be getting 4GB rather than 2GB, or am I better spending the money elsewhere?

If u can fit 2x2GB into the budget u will certainly be very happy with the gains over 2x1GB, especially if running vista. you're right not to true and scrimp on the power supply, a big bang from a psu that isnt up to the job could take everything with it!

 

[Hedge]

Now is definately a good time to ditch your old agp stuff.

I cant believe what you can get for 250. Im tempted to build a second pc purely for a mini lan in my house.

brilliant value for money